Neo Subgenres of Science Fiction
I think that this subgenre is at a crossroads. For a long time, before we had much technology, authors thought robots were going to be at the level of AGI or artificial general intelligence. Back then, you had humans and robots. Then, as microprocessors and PCBs came on line, technology gave us the concept of the cyborg. Star Trek's Borg being my favourite cyborgs. Today, androids in SF have become much more sophisticated and the robot is being relagated to a narrow, utalitarian role. See Androids, droids, cyborgs and robots in my SPECIATION blog.
Here are a few story examples: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, I Robot, Klara and the Sun, SPECIATION: Homo sapiens apparatus, Terminator, Westworld, there are more examples in my SPECIATION blog.
Alternate Worlds / Parallel Universe / Multiverse
I'm not sure if this is really a subgenre. I think it's more like a subject of the times. String theory has put forward the concept of multiple universes and it's been taken up by a lot of authors and writers. There's already a genre in SF that covers this quite well; see Space Exploration in Subgenres.
The Fold is an alternate universe novel which uses teleportation. A fantastic multiverse story, and a fantastic story, period, is The Dark Tower series. It's nothing short of a magnum opus for Stephen King.
Black Science Fiction
There are different spins on this neo subgenre of SF. In some stories, you have black characters in traditional SF character roles, like statues of black Jesus. The idea being to show that the character could or should have been black. A recent example is John Ridley's Batman graphic novels.
The other side of that coin is when the character is black, period. One such character is the Marvel vampire/hero (a dhampir in fact) Blade. This stories are available in comics and movies. I also like Cyborg, the severely injured son of a scientist who ‘rebuilds’ him into an ultra-powerful cyborg, from DC Comics.
Another variant getting more recent attention thanks to Black Lives Matter, is black characters or black stories used to examine the black experience as opposed to simply dropping black characters into a science fiction story. An excellent example is the 2016 steampunk novel Everfair by Nisi Shawl.
Black SF is extensive. It isn't a recent phenomenon by any means.
Children's Science Fiction
Children's SF can target children or be about children and sometimes the children's subgenre is for everyone.
Some examples include Ender's Game, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Little Prince and Klara and the Sun.
Climate Change / Ecological Science Fiction
The science behind this subgenre isn't really up for debate unless you've bought into the fossil fuel sector's propaganda meant to delay the inevitable move away from hydrocarbons as a major energy source. Understanding the impacts and what's coming however isn't easy. SF can help readers grapple with climate change. As can the academic research community and an independent press.
Some examples of SF focused on climate change issues include The Year of the Flood and The Ministry for the Future. A more academic work, published by Liverpool University Press is Science Fiction and Climate Change: A Sociological Approach.
The Climate Change / Eco subgenre is an important vehicle for discussion of the issues. Like a number of other neo subgenres, it isn't always SF but rather climate change within a SF setting. In fairness, this subgenre lends itself more readily to a true SF treatment than some other neo subgenres, essentially because of all the science involved.
Colonisation Science Fiction
There are a number of twists on the colonisation theme. The stories can be about the journey, about getting somewhere that you want to colonise. It can be about settlers arriving somewhere and their efforts to colonise. Or, it can be about trying to rally humans on Earth to the need to leave.
Some examples include The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin, Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson and The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.
Dystopian / Utopian
The dystopian genre appears in the BISAC codes under Fiction / Dystopian. However, there's a lot of dystopian fiction which I would classify as Science Fiction / Dystopian.
1984 by George Orwell has to be the most well known dystopian SF novel, to the point that the title has fallen into the vernacular. Another novel by one of my favourite authors is Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick.
Take a look at this list of the 60 best dystopian books at Abebooks.com.
Feminist Science Fiction
The feminist neo subgenre, like many others, isn't all that 'neo'. Women have been writing excellent SF for a long time without getting the credit they were due. Together with #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, neo subgenres which are promoting the rights and issues of key groups within modern society are adding a relevant and timely ingredient to SF.
The Future Is Female! 25 Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women, from Pulp Pioneers to Ursula K. Le Guin: A Library of America Special Publication is an anthology of some of the best SF written by women.
Thanks to the series of the same name, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is probably one of the most recognized SF stories in this genre. Although it's a dystopian story, it is, I believe, first and foremost a feminist story.
In Leni Zumas' book Red Clocks we follow five women who navigate in a dystopian world where embryos have more rights than the women who carry them.
Gothic Science Fiction
Gothic SF mixes gothic fiction and SF. A detailed examination is available at the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction website.
Gothic Science Fiction: 1980-2010 is a serious look at the genre.
Another serious text is Gothic Science Fiction: 1818 to the Present.
High Tech Science Fiction
This subgenre appears in Amazon and a few other places. It seems to be an amalgam of military and hard SF or just any SF with a lot of technology in it.
I'm not sure it really merits to be discussed at length given that Hard Science Fiction pretty much covers it. But it's out there, so I thought I'd provide some context to anyone wondering what it is. Feel free to ante up your take on it.
Horror Science Fiction
Like a lot of other subgenres, I think Horror SF isn't so much a subgenre as a context or a setting for horror. It's Horror in a SF setting, like Romance in a SF setting or any other genre that's simply dropped into the SF setting.
The classic 'there's a monster on the ship which kills everyone off one by one' plot has to be the Alien series.
LGBTQ+ Science Fiction
This subgenre and LGBTQ+ in general has taken up a lot of airtime in the last few years in the wake of the #MeToo and the Black Lives Matter movements, especially in the popular arts such as cinema, TV (especially streamed) and literature. Like many other social issues, the question isn't new. Thanks to social media more people are speaking out and being heard. This, in turn, increases social awareness.
Some examples include: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin and All This Could be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews.
Superhero Science Fiction
Heroes have been around since before written literature but, if you remove Greek Gods and similar examples, they were regular humans for the most part. In the 1900s superheroes appeared and by the mid 1900s they were big, we'd just traversed WWII and the west needed encouragement. Back then they were in comics but superheroes relatively recently became big in cinema. I attribute that, at least in part, to the vast increase in 3D animation and FX capabilities. The explosion in streamed content has also played a big part in this phenomenon.
Characters in this subgenre have numerous superpowers or cyborg powers. It's rife with all manner of gadgets and scientific plots or sub-plots. While there are many examples of serious introspection and dealing with real issues, Superhero SF is all about entertainment in the Hollywood tradition.
Western Science Fiction
If you haven't watched Cowboys & Aliens, you're in for a treat! The movie version is based on the graphic novel. My second favourite western SF is WestWorld. This time, there's a movie and a screen adaptation in the form of the HBO series of the same name. The series gets a little tired I find and the first couple of seasons are really the best.
Western SF is like many of the other neo subgenres, it's SF in a western setting,
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